Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, for what reason her Department approved an export license to Sri Lanka for military helicopters on 4 March 2020 with a value of £149,724; and what assessment was made of the risk of those items being used in violations of international humanitarian law.

Whatever the destination, HM Government will not grant an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria (the ‘Consolidated Criteria’), including if there is a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

HM Government publishes Official Statistics (on a quarterly and annual basis) on export licences granted, refused and revoked to all destinations on GOV.UK and these reports contain detailed information, including the overall value, the type (e.g. Military, Other), and a summary of the items covered by these licences.

This information is available at: gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data (opens in a new tab) and the related quarterly publication was on 14^th July 2020, covering the period 1^st January to 31^st March 2020.

As the above report shows, no licences for military helicopters were issued for Sri Lanka in this period. A licence authorising the export of ‘components for NBC protective/defensive equipment’ (control entry ML7) with a value of £149,725 was issued for Sri Lanka, on 4^th March 2020. On the same day, we also issued a licence authorising the export of ‘components for military helicopters’ (control entry ML10) with a value of £161,477 for Sri Lanka. In both cases, these licences were for goods for incorporation in other products and the items were ultimately destined for third countries.